


Soulmates

by madealine



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: All of the Avengers make an appearance at some point, Also Post-Wanda Maximoff/Vision, Angst, Anxiety, BAMF Wanda Maximoff, But also, But sometimes they live, Canon Compliant, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Getting to Know Each Other, Hurts So Good, I Made Myself Cry, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm Sorry, Idiots in Love, Made For Each Other, Mutual Pining, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Wanda Maximoff/Vision, Sometimes They Die, Sweet Vision (Marvel), Vision Needs A Hug, Wanda Maximoff & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Wanda Maximoff Needs a Hug, Yes I do take requests, an unhealthy amount of pining, yes this is That Scene from Infinity War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:09:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29753178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madealine/pseuds/madealine
Summary: “We have said goodbye before, so it stands to reason that—““We’ll say hello again.”And they did.In every universe you could imagine, they did.These are the stories of Wanda and Vision’s many hellos and goodbyes, and all the moments in between.~AKA a bunch of interconnected one-shots and short stories to hurt and heal you after WandaVision.*REQUESTS ARE OPEN*
Relationships: Wanda Maximoff/Vision
Comments: 33
Kudos: 145





	1. Love Is For Souls, Not Bodies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say I’m sorry

The Vision’s time was almost up. He wasn’t ready. He should’ve been. Things like him weren’t meant to feel sorrow when faced with their endings. But he was supposed to grow old with her, and now he never would. He was supposed to do so many things.

She was finally going to teach him how to make paprikash. He’d never gotten it right before. “You follow the recipe so well, Vis,” she’d said, “but it’s not just about that. You have to put some _soul_ into it.”

The Vision had spent the better part of his existence pondering the thought of souls and whether a being like him could have one. He was created as a weapon, something to inflict pain and incite conflict among other people. Though he had no interest in violence, how could he ignore the very purpose of his creation when confronted with the gentleness of humanity? He was not human. He was not a machine. No god would give a hazardous mix of metal and magic a soul. 

But... then there was Wanda.

And Wanda was so, so beautiful. 

Even now, as tears ruddied her face and the wind ruffled her hair, and as she was breaking him down to the core, she was beautiful. At every moment, no matter how distressed he was with her, she was always beautiful. More than that, she was funny, charming, and sweet. It puzzled him how a woman with so much power could be so gentle. How could she be able to lay the same hand on his cheek that had frightened so many, and how was she able to make him know he had nothing to fear from her with the same mouth that had cursed so many? She was a paradox with a power that could tear apart the universe, and on Saturday nights, she enjoyed hot chocolate and old sitcoms and cuddling with an artificial sentient weapon of mass destruction. And she was brave, too. She was the most courageous person he’d ever met.

The first day they saw each other, the day he was born,  everyone around him was terrified. They wanted to know so many things: was he Ultron or Jarvis, would he hurt them, how could they trust him? But Wanda looked him in the eye and told him what she’d seen in him, and he knew that if she had to, she could destroy him. Of everyone in that room, he was intrigued by her the most. Who else would be so confident as to threaten a thing like him?

Who else would see annihilation in his head and be brave enough to look again?

The Vision was not created to find things beautiful, or funny, or brave. The Vision was designed to destroy. He was meant to protect the world without question. He was told to obey a master and trust in their word. The Vision was a weapon.

And she called him “Vis.”

The Vision spent many nights pondering souls, but when he held her, he could feel it: a subtle pulsing in his chest, somewhere right next to his synthetic heart that pulled him to her wherever he went. He wanted to hold her and never let go. Sometimes he thought that maybe he could. They could run away together. He had bought a plot of land in a small town where no one could find them, a place no one had even heard of, and sketched the design of a house he thought she’d like. Presently, he assumed the builders wouldn’t have much done. Perhaps laid the groundwork, a few stones scattered about the yard in the rough shape of the place where they would grow old. He was planning on giving her the deed, seeing as he hadn’t even asked yet. He’d been a bit presumptuous about the whole thing, but when he was with her, it was like that pulsing beat was telling him what to do, and he knew it was right. He knew they might argue about settling down—they’d both made promises, after all—but he didn’t care as long as they would have a home when it was over. Maybe she would hate it or want to go somewhere else, or perhaps she wouldn’t want to be with him at all, but that pulse told him she would stay. And that was all he cared about in the end.

But it didn’t matter now. 

He would never grow old, he realized. He was alright with that. Whatever his intended purposes were, they would not let him last. The time he’d shared with Wanda wasn’t enough—forever, he thought, wouldn’t be enough—but it was worth it nonetheless. He had once told Ultron that a thing isn’t beautiful because it lasts. He still believed that.

And Wanda was so, so beautiful. Maybe, he thought, just maybe, spending his life with her had made him beautiful, too.

He didn’t have much strength left, just enough to whisper, “I love you.”

They’d never said it before. They’d never been sure how long they would have, and so they were afraid. Well, they both knew how long was left now, and he refused to die without telling her before it was too late. He didn’t even know if she could hear him, the energy surrounding them crackling so loudly it sounded like fireworks, but he could feel that she knew.

Maybe she always had.

The stone was cracking. He was dying. It was over.

He was so proud.

It burned through him, this pride, because this marvelous woman was holding back the Mad Titan with one hand and shattering an Infinity stone with the other, all the while crumbling inside. She was so strong, his Wanda, so _very_ strong. He loved her so much. 

The Vision was not built to want things, but he wanted nothing more than to kiss her goodbye.

He supposed the universe decided their ending called for something more bitter than sweet.

Thanos loomed in the background, and for a moment, the monster was stunned. Wanda was more than the Titan bargained for, and Vision was so in love that it burned him. For a moment, he realized that the Titan might kill Wanda for what she’d done, what she was _doing_ , but he would never be able to know until he saw her again. He hoped that whatever her fate may be, it would be painless. She had felt so much pain already. The world could grant her a kind end, at least.

His eyes never left Wanda’s, and the stone shattered, and he closed his eyes as they won, and he was gone.

Something strange happened then.

He could feel his body pull back together. They were running out of time again, and Wanda was crying again, and—

He had already died, hadn’t he?

The Mad Titan didn’t waste his time with Wanda. In an instant, she was gone, and Vision realized with a hollow feeling that they hadn’t won at all. They’d lost, they’d _lost_ , and he wouldn’t be able to help them win ever again. Thanos picked him up by his neck like he was a machine without thought, lifted his hand, and squeezed the stone between his fingers. 

In his last moments, Vision saw Wanda slumped in the dirt, his friends beaten and bloody on the ground, and himself reflected in the Titan’s eyes. The two shared one final look. It was over. 

He could hear Wanda scream as Thanos plucked the Infinity stone from his head and threw his body to the ground.

It took a moment for his system to shut down completely. No longer than a second, if even that, but in that time he remembered something Wanda had told him once:

_ “Love is for souls, not bodies.” _

The beat of his synthetic heart slowed until it stopped, but the pulsing next to it continued, and with his dying thought, he knew it would continue until the end of time.

In his soul, he knew they would win. They had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo that's rough. But hey, WandaVision is simultaneously giving me hope and tearing it away from me in one fell swoop, which is cute. They better not hurt those children tho I will literally sob


	2. And The World Went Quiet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo looks like this is turning into a one-shot series abt these two!! Congrats if you like them! If you don’t... why.. are you..... here..? 
> 
> Anywho, here’s That Scene from Wanda’s perspective

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

So many thoughts raced through Wanda’s head as Vision tried to comfort her. She was going to kill him. There was no other choice. They were so close, so  very  close to beating the odds and making it out together. She almost wished Steve had never brought them to Wakanda—never given them hope—because losing that felt worse than anything else. They had been so confident.

But Wanda knew even then they would never win.

After all, who were they to defy fate? A sad, lonely girl with no one left and a robot made for the express purpose of fighting things like her. What a fine pair they made. Fate was cruel, but the truth was crueler, and the truth was they were never going to get a happy ending. They weren’t even meant to live this long.

Wanda felt like a cornered animal with nowhere to run—one who knew what was coming but still refused to accept it. This wasn’t the ending she wanted. It wasn’t the ending she  _deserved_. Vision was supposed to be there, always, to hold her hand and kiss her cheek and drag her back to shore when the tidal waves of grief became too much to bear alone. Forces connected them, and though neither of them was capable of understanding why, she knew part of herself lay in him, and part of him lived in her. Wanda and Vision were made for each other. They were made to balance one another; to hold one another; to understand one another; to  _lov—_

“Wanda, please... we are out of time.”

Vision looked so desperate. They needed to do this. Wanda needed to do this, and she was the only one who could, but everything in her screamed when she felt the familiar tingle of magic forming between her fingers. Even with the world hanging in the balance, she would choose him. It was always him, every time...

Because Vision was kind.

Vision was a weapon, and yet he was kind and gentle and loving. He could prove to her with a simple caress that the intended purpose of a thing didn’t have to define it. Vision’s kindness meant that she could be better; she could be kind, heroic, and even hopeful against all odds. Vision was proof of that. Once, when she was locked away in a compound while the other Avengers sorted through the Accords, he’d joined her in her room to watch an old sitcom. The news of how many innocents had died in Lagos had just broken, and Wanda felt like a monster. Whatever her powers were, they were made to cause destruction. She couldn’t control them. Leaving chaos and death in her wake was her purpose.

She explained all this to him with a shaky voice, nearly expecting him to dismiss her entirely. But he stayed like he always did. He sat on her bed, rubbed her back, and said:

_ “Perhaps our intended purposes are not what matters, but what we do in  _ spite _ of those purposes that define us. But even still... it may be there are no concrete purposes at all. Maybe we are born to live until we die. We may make choices that leave a legacy, just as we may lay forgotten to time. Or perhaps it is everything and nothing at once, in which case, maybe it shouldn’t matter. Maybe... maybe we just  _ are. _ And maybe that’s enough.” _

He showed her it could be enough.

Vision looked at the world with all its painful truths, smiled as if he knew something no one else did and forgave humanity of its faults despite none of them being worthy of his forgiveness. He cared deeply for all things, no matter how inconsequential, but he balanced that care with the acceptance that all things must come to an end someday. Wanda knew that, too, better than anyone.

But it wasn’t supposed to be today.

_God_ ,  they should’ve stayed in bed. They should never have left the room. Vision should’ve stayed; she should’ve stayed; they both should’ve left everything behind because nothing mattered more than each other, but they didn’t know it until it was too late. Until it was over.

Wanda didn’t know if she was capable of breaking all the Infinity Stones or if it was her connection to the Mind Stone that would weaken its defenses against her, but she could’ve shattered every one of them if it meant changing this ending. That was all she wanted; her parents could stay dead, her dearest brother could rot underground if he had to, but was she not allowed this one wish? Could she not keep the one man who would pull her back from the brink of destruction? 

Was  this  her fate? An eternity utterly alone?

She tried to create an energy sphere in her hand, but something in her pulsed against it so strongly it made her nauseous. Thanos was close now, but her magic still refused to form.

“I can’t,” she whispered. Her throat burned.

Vision smiled softly. “Yes, you can,” he said, taking her hand when she shook her head. “You  _can._ If he gets this stone, half the universe dies.”

How could she tell him she didn’t care? What would he say to her then?

He pressed on: “It’s not fair. It shouldn’t be you, but it is.”

It always was. Every time. Her parents; Pietro; Lagos. And now Vision. She was always the one left to survive. Just once, she wanted to be able to rest in peace. Was that so much to ask?

Wanda felt a tear slip down her cheek. She wanted Vision to brush it away. His eyes were so sad, so sorrowful. He’d already accepted his end, she realized.

“It’s alright,” he murmured.

He let go of her hand, and she felt empty. She knew it was the last time they would ever touch. Thanos’s boots crunched in the leaves behind them.

Vision spoke again, his eyes never leaving hers: “You could never hurt me... I just feel you.”

Wanda realized that Vision was going to die no matter what she did. If it was by her hand, she could make it as painless as possible. He’d been through so much pain already. He deserved a kind end, at least.

She pulled at her magic, and this time it came quickly, tingling in her palms. As gently as possible, she pushed her energy into the Mind Stone, and for a moment, she could feel everything.

Vision was filled with so much guilt and sorrow. It weighed on him like a stone, dragging him down to his knees in a desperate attempt to plead for relief. Wanda knew this, but what she hadn’t known was he  _had_ found relief: 

_Her._

This man of metal and bone was practically brimming with emotions he shouldn’t have been able to feel. Wanda wanted to explore all of them. She wanted to know him inside and out, and she could feel he wanted the same. She wanted to know everything, and she would never get the chance because he was dying, and she could feel that, too. His body wasn’t in pain, she made sure of that, but his mind burned with so many things she didn’t have time to decipher.

Then suddenly, there it was.

_Love._

He was filled with so much love.

Wanda was sobbing outright because she loved him back. She loved him so, so much it made her dizzy. It made her weak yet so incredibly strong. Her love for him could destroy worlds. It could kill Titans.

Thanos was close enough to see, and that pulse that had held her back before pushed Wanda’s power against the Mad Titan so strongly her fingers started to burn. He would not get Vision, not while she was breathing, because Vision belonged to her just as she belonged to him. He was hers to protect, and damn them all if she wouldn’t keep him safe until her heart stopped beating in her chest.

Vision whispered something she couldn’t hear, but she felt the surge of pride that came with it. He was so proud of her, despite all she’d done. She knew she didn’t deserve it, but she believed him when _he_ thought that she did.

Wanda could feel the Mind Stone cracking. It was almost over. This was the end.

With one final push, Wanda shattered the Mind Stone, and Vision was gone.

The force of a dying Infinity Stone shoved out at her, and Wanda flew backward. She landed on her hands and knees mere feet from Thanos, but she didn’t care. She was so tired, and her magic was fading in and out. A void had formed in her chest and was pushing bile into her throat until it burned. It was over. They’d won, but at what cost?

“I understand, my child,” a voice said from above her. “Better than anyone.”

Wanda tilted her head back, and standing in front of her was the Mad Titan himself.

How  _dare_ he.

He wasn’t worthy of thinking Vision’s  _name,_ let alone comparing the pain of losing him to any other tragedy.

“You could  _never_ ,” she hissed.

Thanos huffed softly and placed his hand on her head, gently caressing her hair. She briefly thought he might snap her neck. She couldn’t find it in herself to stop him if he tried. “Today, I lost more than you could know,” he muttered, and Wanda almost believed him. She could feel something in his soul crying out in anguish, and she hoped it burned him to the core. “But now is no time to mourn,” he continued, moving forward. “Now... is no _time_ at all.”

The Titan stepped in front of Vision’s shattered body and held out his hand. A green symbol snaked around his wrist, and Wanda watched in horror as Vision’s body slowly came back together until the Mind Stone was once more intact.

“ _NO!_ ” she screamed, rising as quickly as she could, but it was no use. Thanos knocked her away like she was nothing, and with her magic drained, she was powerless to stop him. Her head cracked painfully against the ground, and her vision blurred. Her mind felt foggy. When she finally rose to her knees, she gagged into the back of her hand.

Vision was lying on the ground, his back facing her, but he looked... wrong. The world still looked blurry, but even so, Wanda could sense something terrible had happened. 

She crawled on her hands and knees to him, gently turning him towards her. His body was grey. His eyes were lifeless.

Where was the Mind Stone?

She reached out with the little magic she could conjure, but she couldn’t feel Vision’s warmth.

Where did he go?

Why was he so _empty?_

She didn’t understand... she’d done everything right. Hadn’t she?

The world started to look sharper, and suddenly it dawned on her. If the Mind Stone were gone, Thanos would have it. It would be over. They would’ve lost.

She traced the edges of Vision’s face and gasped when he didn’t wake up.

It really was over.

They  _lost,_ and Vision was dead anyway.

Wanda cradled her Vision’s head, staring into the hole where the Mind Stone should’ve been. Tears built up behind her eyes, but for some reason, they refused to fall. Maybe she just didn’t have any left. After all, she had mourned so many now. There was no one left. If she survived this, the world would still see her as a villain, and she would be on the run forever. She would have no home to go to anymore.

It was funny, in retrospect. She never had a home, not since Stark’s bomb in Sokovia. But she always had Pietro, and when she didn’t, she had Vision.

She had nothing now.

And _god_ , she just wanted to sleep. Even nightmares would be better than this. At least then she could see Vision again.

There was noise coming from somewhere. She could feel it more than hear it; whatever it was shook the earth so violently her teeth chattered together. Wanda clung to Vision desperately, still not wanting him hurt. She still had a body to bury. She’d never had that before.

The shaking stopped. If Wanda had looked up, she would’ve seen an ax buried deep in Thanos’s chest and Thor’s face twisted in a grimace the god had never shown before. But she didn’t look up. She looked down with teary eyes and saw grey and nothing more.

Thor screamed. She didn’t care. What had she left to lose, anyway? Half the world would die, but those left behind would bear the brunt of the pain. It wasn’t fair in Wanda’s eyes. Why should she suffer when she was alive? Why did surviving through so much have to come with the numbing _guilt_ of outlasting your fellow man? Outliving your loved ones? Wasn’t a life cut short a happier one?

She didn’t have time to ponder this, because something strange happened.

The world went quiet.

The Mind Stone affected the Maximoff twins in mysterious ways. As it were, Wanda could feel the pulse of every heartbeat in the world—maybe even the universe if she concentrated hard enough. She could feel the pull of energy every human, animal, and plant emitted. She could feel things' souls, and they felt like colors.

But now, the world went quiet.

It was over.

She could tell who was gone.

Bucky went first. He was so confused. Then there was T’Challa, who never even felt it coming. She could feel Sam’s heartbeat pick up speed just before it faded to nothingness, and she assumed he knew they’d failed as he left. The young one, Shuri, felt a tidal wave of guilt wash over her, and it pulled her away into the endless darkness. Wanda wanted to tell her it wasn’t her fault; time had never been on Vision’s side. Maybe it was poetic then that the thing he worked so tirelessly to treasure was the very thing that allowed a monster to destroy him. Somewhere very far away, a group of electric blue souls faded to black with deep bewilderment, and an orange one left a bittersweet tinge of hope burning in Wanda’s brain. Whomever that soul belonged to, they were a fool. There was nothing to be hopeful for now.

So many were gone now. Their exits were staggered, and some happened quicker than the rest. She could feel a soul on a distant planet fighting to survive, and she wondered why that was. Perhaps those that went quickly were those who accepted death and thus were granted swift ends. Maybe those who fought felt unimaginable pain as their bodies ripped apart until they were dust. Or maybe it was completely random, and the universe didn’t decide who got to go in peace and left in tragedy.

Wanda had always wondered how she would die. She should’ve died with her parents all those years ago or with Ultron and Pietro in Sokovia. Or, better yet, with the citizens of Lagos who burned because of her mistake: one tiny flick of her wrist and twenty-six innocent souls flickered out. She should’ve died with the Mind Stone. It was only fair, after all.

But it didn’t matter now.

Nothing mattered anymore because the world went quiet, and Vision was dead.

The world went quiet, and Wanda Maximoff got what she wanted.

Wanda’s soul was not red, as many would believe, but dull and soft and yellow. It didn’t burn, or shine, or glow, but merely hummed inside her. Her magic caused chaos throughout her mind and body, but her soul buzzed quietly. It was a sad soul, she knew, but she once thought it had the potential to become happy again—to burn brightly through the night.

It seemed a soul such as hers was not meant to shine like a beacon. It was more like a cautionary tale. She was okay with that.

Even if she wasn’t, she didn’t have much time to mourn her tainted public image. Her soul was fading, too. It stung a little, almost like getting a shot at the hospital, but then it was over. She wasn’t entirely gone, though, and she felt a pull in her chest telling her to stay. It wanted her to hold on, to  _fight,_ and in her cluttered brain, it felt like Steve and Sam and Natasha and everyone she should’ve wanted to stay for. But her soul knew better, and it tugged her in the same direction it always had and always would:

To Vision.

Her body was crumbling away to nothing. It only took a few seconds at best, but to Wanda, it felt like minutes. It was like her body was desperately trying to hold on to something—to Vision’s body, maybe—but her soul was humming tiredly in her chest like it knew what her end would be all along. Her soul was ready.

So Wanda let go.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im sorry pt 2 😔 but I promise they won’t all be sad!!!!! ......probably......


	3. Beneath the Surface

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vision shows Wanda her new hideout. TW: vague descriptions of a semi-panic attack.
> 
> Set in the time between Civil War and Infinity War.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, funny seeing you here. How’s everyone doing? 
> 
> I promise this one shouldn’t hurt as much :)))))
> 
> TW: vague mentions of a semi-panic attack. Nothing too bad, but just in case.

Wanda was on a jet.

It was a quinjet, to be precise, and it was taking her to a place in Scotland where she could hide away until this Accords business blew over.

At least that’s how Sam put it.

Natasha was much less kind about it, but she was more honest. Wanda knew the Accords wouldn’t just blow over. She and her friends were on the run, probably for the rest of their lives, and they didn’t have time to hope for anything different.

“Clint was able to secure some of your things from the compound before being placed under house arrest. They’ll arrive in Scotland tomorrow; we’ll have someone bring them to you. For now, there’s a contact in Dean Village waiting for you on Dean Bridge,” Natasha said, handing her a small bag of cash that she shoved in her jacket pocket. “He’ll show you the way.”

“And you’re sure I won’t be seen?”

“Wanda, you know I wouldn’t let you off this ship without knowing you’d be safe.”

“I know, I just...” she hesitated. Ever since the Accords, she’d had to watch her back at every turn until Steve and Natasha could secure a safe house for her. The thought of being put back in a cage haunted her waking nightmares.

“Hey, I get it,” Natasha said, rubbing her shoulder. “But you’re not alone anymore. And if Cap has anything to say about it, you never will be again.” She smirked, and Wanda unclenched her jaw just a little. If Natasha Romanoff could smile at a time like this, so could she.

The jet descended through the clouds, and the roaring hills of Scotland came into view, shrouded in darkness.

Looking out across the night sky, Wanda almost believed that everything would be alright.

~

Everything was decidedly  _not_ alright.

Firstly, the jet landed half an hour’s walk from Dean Village, so Wanda found herself trudging through the pretty scenery in her favorite pair of combat boots. Secondly, navigating through the grand stone buildings and winding paths of the village proved exceedingly difficult without a map. She probably should’ve mentioned that before getting off the jet and heading in the general direction Natasha pointed her in, but at the time, she was too concerned with getting somewhere safe to think of small things like  _ knowing where the hell she was going. _

Wanda may have been powerful, but no one ever said she was practical—especially when it came to her safety and freedom.

But hey, people make mistakes. A few wrong turns and a couple of sympathetic onlookers willing to give directions later, and Wanda found herself shuffling across Dean Bridge. Natasha had said the contact would be waiting here, and he was.

And that was just it because, lastly, her goddamn  _contact_ just so happened to be  _ the Vision. _

It was fine. It wasn’t as if Wanda had been desperately waiting to hear from him again after the Avengers’ little civil war. Of course, she didn’t  care  whether or not he’d been subjected to the same pains she had; that gnawing feeling in her chest was curiosity and nothing more. She didn’t feel any melancholic longing at the sound of his voice, and she  _definitely_ didn’t care about his opinion of her. Why would she care about a thing like that?

No, Wanda felt nothing but collegial respect for Vision, and that was all.

So it didn’t bother her one bit to see him standing there on the bridge, his face and skin altered to appear more human, with the light of a lamppost shrouding him in a golden mist like he was made to stand in its glow. And the fact that he was looking at her like she was as pure and beautiful as the surrounding hills meant nothing to her.

As she approached him, Vision smiled, and her magic buzzed excitedly in her veins.

_Fine,_ she thought.  _ No more ignoring it now. _

There were only about ten feet between them. Wanda knew the safe thing to do was travel the distance as calmly as possible, but before she could rationalize it, her feet started to pick up the pace until she was rushing towards Vision’s open arms. When she was close enough to jump to him, her magic burst through her arms, and she went flying—literally—into his chest, throwing them both off balance.

Luckily, Vision’s body didn’t have the same restrictions as a human. His spine bent backward—further than hers ever could—and he threw his leg back for balance so he could catch her. Wanda clung to him for a moment, unsure how to un-cling herself without falling over until Vision gently secured his arms around her waist, enabling her feet to thump to the ground. Her arms were still wrapped around his neck.

“Sorry,” she hurried, stepping out of his embrace.

“Don’t be,” he said with a rueful grin. “It is good to see you again, Ms. Maximoff.”

She blanched.

_Right._

Somehow she’s nearly forgotten the circumstances surrounding the last time they’d seen each other. At the clash of the Avengers in Leipzig-Halle Airport, they’d been on opposing sides. When all was said and done, Vision was allowed to go free, and Wanda was put behind bars. Surely they should be enemies.

Then again, enemies didn’t stare regretfully into each other’s eyes on top of a bridge in the middle of Scotland.

So maybe some things were still murkier than others.

Vision cleared his throat. “Yes, well, I suppose we should be on our way then. Come with me.”

Wanda followed him across the bridge and out of Dean Village. They walked for nearly thirty minutes, neither of them saying anything. The silence wasn’t awkward, per se, just... tense. They each had too much to say to each other, but neither couldn’t find the words, and even if they could, they weren’t sure if the other wanted to hear them. As they walked, they saw a few early-morning joggers and hitchhikers, and Vision politely ignored how Wanda’s shoulders tensed whenever they passed. She kept her head down, wishing she’d worn a hoodie or hat to cover her face.

Just as she spotted a subtle bend in the path a little ways ahead, a whirring sound echoed through the street. Wanda shuffled to a stop. She couldn’t see what it was, due in part to the slight curve of the road, but also because it was a long and dark path, and darkness meant monsters could hunt and hide. The noise got louder— _closer_ —,  and Wanda’s heart dropped to her stomach. She couldn’t breathe, her hands shaking so violently the joints in her wrists cracked painfully while sparks flew from her fingertips. Vision continued a few steps ahead of her, not realizing she had fallen behind. The source of the sound was closing in, and Wanda involuntarily formed two balls of crackling energy in her hands.

The red glow of her magic filled the street as the energy lashed out towards the trees. She marched forward, falling in line next to a very confused Vision.

“Get behind me,” she hissed. “ _Now_ _,_ Vision!”

“What—?”

The whirring finally rounded the bend, and Wanda’s eyes went red. Her magic crackled lightly, readying itself to be put to use when Vision jumped in front of her.

“Vision, move!” She pulsed her magic, willing to move him herself to keep them safe.

“No, Ms. Maximoff, please—“

She wrapped a tendril of energy around him, nearly throwing him aside, but he grabbed her arms tightly enough to bruise. Her magic burned brighter, longing to lash out at him, but she pulled it back.

“What the hell are you doing?” she whispered frantically, her eyes still glowing brightly. “Do you not hear that? What if someone’s found us?”

“It’s a biker,” he hurried, still clutching her arms. “Just a biker. Nothing more.”

Wanda froze. Her magic slowly faded to a soft glow, one that wouldn’t alert anyone to their presence. “No,” she whispered. “No, I-I heard—but I heard something...”

“The roller chain of the bike is rusted and needs cleaning, and thus is emitting a grinding noise each time the pedals make a rotation. He is nothing to worry about.”

“But how can you be sure?” Her eyes had faded back to hazel, and now they were staring intently into the night in search of a threat.

Vision’s grip softened. “My eyes are nothing more than vibranium lenses. If I so wish, I can adjust the focus to see hundreds of meters ahead of myself, and I am able to see in the dark if necessary. I promise you, whoever that man is, he will do you no harm.  _Wanda,_ ” he said, gently turning her face to his. “You are  safe . I swear to you, nothing here will ever hurt you, no matter how much you may anticipate it.”

She stared up at him, her shoulders tensing as the biker neared them. Vision dropped his arms to his sides, but he didn’t continue down the road. Finally, she nodded. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have... I should’ve asked you what it was first. I just—“ she paused and closed her eyes. The biker passed them, his momentum sweeping Wanda’s hair across her face. She flinched slightly and sighed, “I’m just so _scared_.”

“I know,” Vision said, lightly brushing her hair out of her eyes. “It’s okay to be afraid.”

“No, not if it puts people in danger, Vision. If I can’t control this,” she flitted a strand of energy through her fingers, “then I will  never  be safe. As long as I am a threat, they will come for me, and they will kill me.”

“They will try, yes,” he said, returning his hands to her arms, this time gently rubbing his thumb across them. “And it will be out of fear of what you can do. You are not a monster, Wanda; you are a person with extraordinary power, and that frightens them... but a very wise woman once told me that you cannot control anyone’s fear but your own.” He grinned at her, reaching out his hand like he wanted to cup her cheek, but quickly lowered it again. “You will be safe here. The Avengers... Captain Rogers and Miss Romanoff will ensure that.”

“And will you?” she asked softly. It was a loaded question that didn’t have a right answer. If he said no, he would widen the rift between them tenfold. If he said yes, he would be committing numerous felonies and would betray the trust of his closest allies, not to mention Bruce Banner and Tony Stark. They were practically his fathers, though Vision would never tell them that. He didn’t  do illogical things because of his emotions, which was all Wanda ever seemed to do. Asking him if he would protect her wasn’t fair; he couldn’t agree without risking—

“Yes,” he whispered. “I will keep you safe for as long as this,” he reached up for the stone embedded in his forehead, and it glowed at his touch, “whatever  this is, keeps my systems from failing. I will always be here when you call out for me, even when you don’t need saving.” He paused, then added: “Well, I suppose with the nature of your abilities you  _never_ need saving, considering you could theoretically rewrite reality—“

“Vision,” she giggled.

He shook his head sheepishly. “I’m sorry. My point is... you are my dearest companion, Wanda. You are my friend. You have shown me I am capable of feeling—“ he cut himself off, looking down at the ground. “Well, of feeling a great many things, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is... Wanda, I trust you with my life, and, well, I don’t know if you feel the same, but—“

“ _Vision,_ ” she said again, this time more serious.

“Yes?”

“I do trust you. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here. Actually, I probably would’ve left when you bruised the  _hell_ out of my arm,” she teased.

Vision’s eyes widened comically. “Oh! Oh, Wanda, I apologize, I didn’t even  realize—“

“That your hands are made of vibranium?”

He sighed and scrunched up his nose. “Yes, that. I truly am sorry.”

“It’s okay, Vis, really. I’m only teasing,” she said, taking a few steps down the road. “It is gonna leave a  nasty  bruise, though,” Wanda smirked as he rushed to catch up.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Yes, actually,” she said, smirking when Vision nodded quickly. “You can finally show me where I’ll be staying in this lovely little town.”

He sucked in a breath. “Of course. Follow me.”

They continued in relative silence, only speaking when the other asked a question or heard a strange noise in the trees.

As they got closer to her new hideaway, they came upon a couple sitting on a bench holding hands. Wanda bit her lip painfully but otherwise appeared outwardly calm. Unfortunately for her, her traveling companion tended to notice people’s heart rates.

Vision turned his head to her, quietly surveying her before speaking. “You know,” he started, glancing ahead to the couple. “We will be entering the town momentarily.”

“Oh,” she muttered, concerned that the pair would make out her Sokovian accent. She needed to work on that.

Vision continued: “Perhaps—it may be best, that is—if we seemed to be... if we appeared as a couple.”

Wanda almost came to a stop in the road. Slowly, she turned her head to him, furrowing her eyebrows. “What do you mean, Vision?”

“I mean,” he pushed on, clearing his throat again, “it would be strange for two people to walk the streets at night in a town they are unfamiliar with without, uhm, without holding hands. I have found that most humans find it...  _comforting_ to interact physically, especially in times of stress.”

Wanda grinned as understanding dawned on her. “ _Oh,_ you mean the stress one feels when walking into a nice, quiet, happy little town just before dawn?”

“That stress exactly, yes, thank you.”

If robots could become flustered, she was sure Vision would be red with embarrassment by now. She was almost worried his systems would overheat.

He continued: “Of course, if you would rather not, that is completely fine, I-I don’t want to pressure you—“

“Vision,” she started. “It’s okay. I understand.”

He nodded and turned his eyes back to the road. Wanda hummed quietly as they passed the sign welcoming them to Edinburgh Old Town— so  this is my new home , she thought—and fiddled with her thumbs. Vision’s line about appearing odd had no real weight; people walked together all the time without holding hands. She understood what he meant to do, though. He’d given an entire speech on his feelings towards her, promised to protect her when she asked, and offered to hold her hand when he saw she was afraid, and he  _still_ wasn’t quite sure what she thought of him.

_Well_ _,_ Wanda mused,  _that doesn’t seem fair! Better I clear the air now than wait for another moment to strike._

Shifting closer to him, Wanda softly brushed Vision’s fingers with her own, grinning dumbly when her magic gave off a spark. Without looking up, she laced their fingers together and gently squeezed his hand. Vision cleared his throat, opened his mouth to speak, then shut it again.

After a moment, he found his voice. “Our hands intertwine perfectly, you know,” he noted. “There’s no unnecessary space between our palms, no joints poking out and causing discomfort to our fingers. It’s funny, really, it’s almost like we were made for each otheeeeer... ‘s hands!” he rushed, coughing into his other fist as if that would distract her. “Each other’s hands, I meant, you know, because of the—the, uh... oh, never mind.”

“Wow, Vis,” she giggled, pressing her face into his shoulder. “That was very eloquently put.”

“Actually, it was a rather poor attempt at speaking, I must say.”

She only laughed harder and said, “Oh, Vis, you are  _very_ funny.”

“I wasn’t trying to be,” he said bemusedly.

“I know, I meant—“ she cut herself off with a cackle, bending forward and using Vision’s arm as an anchor to keep her from falling. After a quick moment, she sighed happily. “I’m sorry, it’s just—you’re just as cute as I remember,” she chuckled.

Vision paused. “You... you thought I was _cute?_ ”

Wanda snorted into her hand, her face turning red with laughter, and gasped, “Yes, yes I did!”

Vision chuckled with her, bumping his shoulder into hers good-naturedly. “So, just to be clear,” he said, stopping to snicker against his knuckles. “You thought a  _robot_ with no discernibly attractive features was cute?”

Wanda shook her head vehemently. “No, not like  _cute_ cute, just—I thought you were sweet. And your features are discernibly attractive!”

“Oh, well, thank you,” he deadpanned, then broke into a wide grin.

“Shut  _up!_ ” She smiled and shoved him away, their interconnected hands keeping them tethered together. “You have a nice nose, that’s all,” she muttered.

Vision smiled. “Thank you,” he said again, this time sincerely. “You have a nice nose as well.”

Wanda giggled and pulled him close to her again. “Well, I’m glad we can agree on that.”

“It is of utmost importance, yes.”

They chuckled, falling into a comfortable silence as they continued onward. Wanda rested her head against Vision’s arm, taking in the sights the small town had to offer. It was much smaller than New York, which made it much less evident on any map, and the people they’d passed thus far barely noticed the new faces. Steve and Natasha had thought of everything.

“We’re almost there,” Vision murmured, gently bumping his head against Wanda’s.

“I’m excited to see it,” she whispered back. “Have you ever seen it before?”

Vision nodded. “I was the one who found this place. I found many of the others’ safe-houses, as well. It wasn’t too difficult, considering my access to near unlimited data.”

“Well, if you could find these places, can’t any computer?” she asked, clutching his hand a little tighter.

He shook his head. “Because of the nature of my design, my processing speed is a hundred  thousand times faster than the fastest computer in the world. My data is also localized within my body, so no outside sources could access it unless they took me apart, and even then, they’d have to know what they were doing. Tony Stark created a safety protocol if I were ever to be dismantled. You see, my storage files—my memories, as it were—would not be deleted but simply dispersed throughout my programming. A few ones and zeroes expertly hidden in my code would go unnoticed if a person didn’t know where to look. This way, no one could access my mind, and if I were to be rebooted, I could resume my life practically where I’d left off—assuming not much time had passed, that is. This all hinges on whether or not someone could find my memories, of course,” he finished, huffing lightly.

Wanda nodded slowly, scrunching her nose. “So... who exactly knows where those ones and zeroes would be placed?”

“As far as I am aware, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, myself, and now you are the only ones who know of the existence of this code. Only Stark and I know how to access my memories should Protocol: Snitches End Up In Ditches be activated—“

“Wait,  _what?_ ”

“Only Stark and I know how to access—?”

“No, no, no,” Wanda corrected, “the protocol’s called  _what?_ ”

“Protocol: Snitches End Up In Ditches? Originally it was Protocol: Snitches Get Stitches, but I rewrote that bit,” Vision grinned proudly.

Wanda stopped, considering his words, then cried: “Why would you change it to that?!”

“What’s wrong with snitches end up in ditches?!” Vision defended.

“What’s wrong with—that’s not how the saying goes!”

“Yes, it is!”

“No, it isn’t!”

“I promise you it is, Wanda!”

“I promise you it  _isn’t_ ,  Vision!”

“ _Hey!_ ” a voice shouted from up above. Wanda and Vision both turned to the noise and spotted an old woman in a nightgown leaning out of her window. “Would you two bampots shut ye geggies? Some of us don’t wake at the ersecrack ‘a dawn, ye know!”

“Sorry! We’ll just be, uhm, heading home,” Vision called up to her.

The woman grumbled to herself, and Wanda thought she heard her say something about “scabby Brits” before shutting her window with a bang.

“She seems nice,” Wanda deadpanned.

“Well,” Vision started, “I suppose we will have to agree to disagree.”

“I suppose so. Now, could you please show me where I’m supposed to sleep tonight?”

~

Vision showed her to a small hotel, one that looked nice enough but wouldn’t ask questions as long as you followed the rules. After he got the keys to her room, the two opted to take the stairs, reasoning that in such a small town, it was unlikely for cameras to have been installed there. When they got to the door of her room, Vision stopped her.

“This is just a temporary arrangement. As you know, you are currently on the watchlist of every country that signed the Accords. Few places you go will be outside their reach, and fewer still will be places you could stay indefinitely. This hotel is safe for a week or two at a time, but after that, you should leave.”

Wanda nodded solemnly. “Where else can I go?”

Vision considered her quietly, then sighed. “We can discuss it at length later. For now,” he said, pushing open the door to her room, “let's get you settled, shall we?”

She smiled and walked through the doorway, Vision following close behind. As soon as the door was closed, he allowed his human visage to drop, and Wanda couldn’t help but stare. Seeing his proper form without worrying if he would be recognized felt like a weight was lifted from her shoulders.

For now, at least, she really was safe.

She was still staring, which wasn’t helped by the fact that even now, she still found Vision very,  _very_ cute.

She quickly decided that was an issue to be addressed at a later date.

“What?” Vision asked, noticing her unintentionally long and loaded gaze.

“Nothing!” she said quickly, then turned to face the room again.

Inside was a large room outfitted with wooden floors and an ornate carpet where a small table with four chairs sat. On the right wall was a large chest of drawers resting under a television and a door that presumably led to a bathroom. A queen-sized bed was pushed up against the left wall. The room had been decorated lovingly, almost as if someone had handpicked each detail and laid it carefully in its assigned place. She almost thought Vision had done it, but then she remembered it was just a hotel.

She wouldn’t be staying here for long. And besides, it was better if she didn’t think of Vision doing sweet things like that.

“This place is beautiful,” she said, splaying her hand out on the bedspread.

“But?”

“But...” Wanda started, biting her cheek. “But this place isn’t mine.”

“No, it isn’t,” he agreed.

She huffed a laugh and smirked. “But?”

“ _But_ ,” he laughed. “There’s always something more beneath the surface with us, isn’t there? I think... I think, if you allowed it, this place could be yours, even for just a moment in time. Yes, it isn’t yours in name or ownership, but the saying goes, ‘Home is—‘“

“‘Where the heart is,’” she finished for him, grinning tiredly.

“Yes, exactly. So, I suppose the true question is, where does your heart lie? If you know that, you know you will always have a home.”

Wanda thought for a moment. There weren’t many places she could remember fondly. Her childhood home was also the sight of her parents' death and the beginning of a long road of pain, never mind that it had been blown to bits during the war. She’d stayed in a few homeless shelters with Pietro and slept on the streets occasionally when she had to, none of which were memories she cherished. Then there was HYDRA, and the places in those memories were ones she kept locked and bolted behind heavy metal doors in her mind. The Avengers compound was friendly, but in her time there, she was always on the outside of a group who’d known each other for years, and when she finally found her place, she accidentally started a war among her new friends. Being locked in that compound wasn’t the worst experience she’d had, but it was only alright because of...

Well, because of Vision.

He had always been kind to her, even when they didn’t know each other well, and because of his kindness, they grew closer. He comforted her after her brother’s death, which was something the others had done, but more so out of obligation than genuine empathy. The ones who did want to help weren’t sure how to, and more often than not, they provided a shoulder to cry on and a nice speech about how he was a wonderful man and in a better place. The problem was, Wanda wasn’t sure if she believed in an afterlife or a God, but she knew if a Heaven existed, Pietro would find his way through the pearly gates. If not, he would be at rest in a peaceful eternity of nothingness, with nothing to terrorize him ever again. Either way, her brother was alright and hopefully happy. The problem wasn’t whether Pietro was in pain; the problem was whether  _Wanda_ was in pain, and she was. Endless, violent waves of grief would drag her down over and over again with no relief.

Until Vision.

Because, even though he was terrible at it, Vision tried to make paprikash. He would speak to her in Sokovian when she was having difficulty grasping a concept in English or just when they were alone, and she naturally let something slip out in her mother tongue. Vision listened to her read stories or talk about her day, and he didn’t pity her for her losses but admired her for her strength in bearing them because he had never had something to lose before, and he couldn’t imagine how she had lost so much. He would listen to her favorite music and quietly sing along if he knew the words. Vision took the time to learn how to keep her storms at bay, and slowly but surely, he became able to just by the sound of his voice. He wasn’t her only friend by any means, but he was her most cherished one, and she couldn’t imagine a life without him.

She promised herself after Pietro’s death, she wouldn’t let someone else in ever again.

But Vision calmly knocked on the door, and when she didn’t answer, he waited in the hall until she was ready.

Wanda loved him.

_As a friend!_ she assured herself quickly.  _As a wonderful, funny, sometimes-happens-to-be-cute best friend._

“Thank you, Vis,” she said, smiling sweetly at him. “I think I’m gonna be okay here.”

“I’m glad,” he replied. “Oh, your luggage will be arriving here shortly, most likely by tomorrow. Will it be alright if I bring it to you in the morning?”

“Yes, that’s fine. Thank you, Vis, really. I know what doing this—being around me—could mean for you. I appreciate you being here.”

He nodded, his mouth twitching up into a grin. “It is as I said, Wanda. Whenever you call, I shall be there.” Wanda smiled and bit her lip softly when he turned away. She felt a twinge of sadness when his human facade returned, but she reminded herself that he would be back in the morning. “Goodbye untiltomorrow,” he added as he opened the door.

“Goodbye untiltomorrow, Vision,” she said, laughing softly to herself and turning in the direction of the bathroom. God knows she needed a shower, and  _fast_. She heard the click of the door as it fell into place, but after a quick moment, the lock turned back, and it opened again.

“Wanda!” Vision called to her. She turned back to face him, her eyes wide with concern. “Sorry,” he stammered, “I just... welcome home.”

Wanda’s face relaxed and slowly melted into a grin. Vision nodded once, spared her a final glance, then left again. He didn’t return, so she made her way to the shower and turned on the hot tap. As she let the water warm up, she looked herself over in the hotel mirror. Despite looking tired and in desperate need of shampoo, Wanda smiled.

Yes, the road ahead was a difficult one, and yes, she would end most days feeling burnt-out and anxious and alone, but it was as Vision said...

When it came to them, there was always something more beneath the surface.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See I told you they wouldn’t all be sad!!!
> 
> Also, if you have any requests, please feel free to comment whatever bc a gal needs some ideas. I’ll write pretty much anything except smut bc tbh I’ve never written it before, and I wanna do it on my own time.
> 
> Please leave a kudos if you enjoyed so I don’t completely abandon this 😩


	4. Category; FILE: Wanda Maximoff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda and Vision practice English pronunciations and Vision ponders his feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to another angsty fluff bomb, because apparently I can’t write anything without hurting myself in the feels. Enjoy!

“The black cat sat on the mat.”

“The bleck kyet—“

“ _Blaaack,_ ” Vision corrected. “It’s a very open-mouthed sound, like this,” he opened his mouth widely, and Wanda followed suit.

“ _Blaaack,_ like thyet?”

“Yes, but... yes, just like that,” he said, giving her a small victory. They’d been practicing English pronunciations of challenging words for hours, and Wanda was getting frustrated. It didn’t help that Vision took after JARVIS in the accent department, which only aided in confusing Wanda even more.

Luckily, her Sokovian accent wasn’t as thick as when she first joined the Avengers, but it was still there, and she wanted it gone completely. Her most significant identifier now was that she was one of the only Sokovians living outside of the Czech Republic or Slovakia, and her voice surely didn’t fit in at the places she was forced to stay. She’d been on the run for four months now. She had stayed in Scotland, Comoros, Australia, Chile, and a host of other countries that made her accent stand out like a sore thumb—they’d been working on those, too, different figures of speech that didn’t translate well between the languages. Unfortunately, Vision was a robot with a limited understanding of social cues, especially sarcasm, so he wasn’t the best tutor when it came to the finer details of the English language.

“I don’t understand why people can’t just say what they mean,” Wanda griped one day after struggling through the difference between  _‘we have bigger fish to fry’_ and  _‘we have a big fish that needs frying.’_ She continued: “I mean, is it so hard to say there are bigger problems on hand?”

“It’s  _at_ hand, actually,” Vision had said, to which Wanda responded by glaring at him. “Sorry, I’ll shut up now.”

They didn’t get much done that day.

“ _Blaaack,_ ” Wanda muttered to herself, shaking him out of his stupor. “The  _blaaack_ _caaat saaat_ on the  _maaat._ Did I get it?!” She bobbed up and down excitedly, beaming at him.

“Yes, yes, that was perfect, Wanda! Well done,” he affirmed, trying to ignore the way her cheeks flushed slightly under his praise. She clapped happily and bit down on her lip. Vision tried very hard not to notice.

He failed miserably.

Wanda took his hand across the table, still giddy from her small victory. “Thank you, Vis. I don’t know how I’d get through all this without you,” she said, her Sokovian accent slipping in and changing her  _‘w’_ to a  _‘v.’_ Vision smirked, and Wanda’s smile dropped. “Damn,” she muttered, “I messed up, didn’t I?”

“It’s nothing a little practice won’t fix,” he assured. “Besides, I can’t think of any important words that begin with  _‘w,’_ anyway.”

Wanda lifted one brow and crossed her arms.

“What?” Vision said, his voice laced with concern.

“Vision, my  name starts with a  _‘w.’_ ”

“Yes, well,” he stammered, his eyes darting furiously around the room. “How often will you be saying your _own_ name , hm?”

Wanda’s smile returned slowly, seemingly against her will, and she sighed. “You have a point, I suppose. Nice save, by the way.”

“Thank you. I do try.”

“Oh, I  _bet_ you do,” she laughed then handed him a stack of flashcards. “Here, can we work on  _‘EA’_ sounds again?”

“Of course,” Vision said, flipping over the first card, which read  _‘beach.’_

Wanda furrowed her eyebrows, whispering under her breath: “ _Biiich?_ No, that’s not right... oh!” She slammed her hand down on the table and raised her chin. “ _Beeech!_ ”

“Perfect,” he grinned, nodding at her to continue with the next card. Wanda smiled so widely her eyes crinkled at the edges, and after a moment, Vision stored the image of her self-satisfied grin in a file labeled  _‘To Understand Wanda Maximoff.’_

It was a silly joke she’d made back when they were first getting to know each other. Vision had said something out of turn and apologized, and after gaining her forgiveness, he explained how difficult he found understanding humans to be. 

“Truthfully, I have more in common with a toaster than my fellow teammates,” he’d said with a grin.

“If only humans came with instruction manuals, too,” Wanda had sighed. “Something like: _‘A Step-by-Step Guide in Understanding Tony Stark.’_ ”

“Oh, that’d be too long for any one person to read in their lifetime,” he’d joked, and Wanda had giggled into her hand before turning back to a pot of stew on the stove.

That was the first time he’d ever made her laugh, and soon after, he created a folder to house the memory of her joke. It was never meant to be anything more than that: a joke made between friends that Vision could store in his database. He never meant to reopen it, and he didn’t mean to place any more memories inside.

But a problem quickly arose after he grew closer to Wanda.

Without meaning to, she would do something so mundanely extraordinary that Vision couldn’t help but be curious. It was never anything significant, but some days she would offer to cook a meal for the Avengers even if she’d already cooked the night before. She would read the same books over and over again until the pages were worn to the point of tears, and then she would offer them up to whomever in the compound found the premise intriguing. Once, she even caught Bruce Banner in a blanket of energy after he fell off a ladder, and in the process, dropped and shattered her favorite mug. Instead of being upset, she swept the ceramic pieces into the trash and went back to reading on the sofa.

These actions in and of themselves were not strange or thought-provoking, but paired with the power Wanda possessed and the trauma she’d endured, they became remarkably poignant. Her actions piqued Vision’s interest, and he began to file them away to examine what exactly he found so fascinating.

When everyone else in the compound was asleep, Vision would lie down on the sofa and close his eyes, replaying the memories over and over again behind his eyelids. With no need to sleep, he would spend hours analyzing these simple actions, picking apart every flick of Wanda’s finger against a page in a desperate attempt to understand his interest in her.

He never could understand  why  that interest began, but over time he recognized it as it grew, and he started to notice things about Wanda he had never seen before. He noticed things about her physicality that no one else caught and slowly learned how to predict and handle her emotions delicately—a precaution he didn’t take with anyone else. Perhaps it was because he saw how her lip trembled whenever someone mentioned Sokovia or how her eyes would glaze over if the microwave beeped for longer than a second. These occurrences bothered him for some reason. So he went to great lengths to keep them from happening, going so far as to pull Stark aside and kindly ask him to stop calling Wanda “the nuclear witch.”

It only got worse from there because then Wanda developed a habit of smiling sweetly at him when he’d enter a room, and something in him stuttered every time he saw her lips pull back to reveal the pearly teeth behind them. He would agonize over that smile every night until someone in the compound got up to make breakfast, and he found himself hoping to see it in the flesh again.

It wasn’t just her smile that sent signals he couldn’t decipher running through his system, and soon enough,  _‘To Understand Wanda Maximoff’_ was brimming with memories of her face and voice and laughter. He kept a constant catalogue of moments between them that made him feel things he couldn’t understand, and even now, he was still finding something new she could do to confuse him.

For example, she was presently biting her lip again in concentration, and Vision carefully stored the image next to one of her having just woken from a nap.

There was something about the curve of her lips that intrigued him. Maybe he’d just been staring at them for too long, watching them form and curse the same syllables over and over again, but something in his metallic synapses drew his eyes to them. Without a conscious effort on his part, he’d calculated the slope of her mouth and the tiny dip of its Cupid’s bow. He noticed how her top lip curled up at the edges, just enough to make it seem like she was continually puckering her lips, and how the little dent in her bottom lip was slightly off-center per the rest of her mouth. Her lips were pink, too, even without lipstick. Strangely, he thought the color was pretty.

He wasn’t supposed to notice things like that, but Wanda made him see all sorts of things he shouldn’t have been capable of seeing.

For example, he wasn’t supposed to see the delicate curl of her hair, how it unfurled in waves when she took it down from a ponytail and cascaded down her back in long ringlets. He wasn’t supposed to see that her hands shook ever so slightly when she used her magic, or that her right eye opened a fraction more than her left, or how when she was nervous, she would cross her arms and tuck one hand up near her throat, preemptively blocking an attack that would never come. He shouldn’t have cared anytime he heard her heartbeat rise or noticed an unnecessary spike in her adrenaline level; he shouldn’t have even _noticed._

But there was something about the curve of her lips, the subtle indentations of teeth left behind when she bit them too hard, and the tiny cracks that formed when the weather was cold and dry. Something about them drew him in, and he ran calculation after calculation trying to figure out  why something as trivial as her mouth would short-circuit his processing capabilities, but he always came up empty. There was no rhyme or reason to it: no logical explanation he could attach to these feelings. It was an impulse; she was always _right there,_ just out of his reach, and all he could do was look.

So why did he want to touch her anyway?

Was it something hidden in her eyes when they tracked him across a room that pulled at his curiosity, or did he just want to still those shaking hands that held power to destroy the universe? If her hair caught his eye, did it mean he wanted to feel its softness between his fingers? How did those amber curls fall so distractingly that he devoted time to figure out the angle of her shoulders and back just to understand how they rested upon them perfectly? Or did it come back to the curve of her lips, the delicate skin peeling back layer by layer as she chewed them raw, trying to understand English articles? What sweet secrets had they kept hidden, and what lies had they told? Why did he long to touch them—to ghost his thumb across her mouth and feel the imperfections hidden by a brilliant smile?

Why did he want her to do the same to him?

“Vis? Did I say it wrong again?”

Vision jumped slightly, shaking his head. “No! No, you... well, to be honest, I have no idea what you just said,” he sighed.

Wanda chuckled. “It’s okay. Here, this is what it was,” she showed him the card:  _‘feather.’_ He nodded at her to continue. “ _Feeether?_ ”

“ _Fehhhther,_ like this,” he said, opening his mouth to show the placement of his tongue. “ _Fehhh—”_

“ _Fehhhther,_ right,” she nodded. “What’s the next one?”

He flipped over another card:  _‘bead.’_ She scrunched her nose, and Vision involuntarily saved the image.

“Beh— no, wait,  _beeed,_ right?” 

Vision nodded and flipped to the next card:  _‘head.’_ She chewed her nail, and  _‘To Understand Wanda Maximoff’_ flipped open before he shut it tightly. He had to stop doing this: obsessing over a woman who did not feel the same intrigue for him. They were friends, nothing more, nothing less, and he was perfectly content with that.

“Shit, wait...  _hehhhd?_ ” Wanda asked tentatively.

He winked and nodded, and her face lit up with that same blush from before, and he cursed his processing unit for wanting to save the color of her cheeks to his hard drive. That was the whole problem, he thought, because his metallic plates weren’t capable of rushing blood to his skin. He didn’t have blood. Instead, he had wires and circuits that shot signals across his body at lightning speed. Vision did not breathe as he did not need air; he did not sleep, eat, or drink; his heart did not beat to pump blood but to send continuous warnings to the stone in his head as if reminding it not to destroy him. He could feel touch when he wanted, but if he desired, he could shut that system off, too. His eyes did not  _see_ so much as  _process,_ and every other sense he possessed came from the logical figurings of his matrix—what he had instead of a brain—and not his body perceiving things and working in tandem with his mind to understand what it was. Vision didn’t have to try to understand something; he just did. He knew everything he needed to know, and whatever he didn’t need to know, he didn’t concern himself with. That was his design.

He flipped over another card:  _‘beast.’_

Wanda bit her lip, tearing at the skin he had examined so many times just to figure out  why  he was examining it, anyway. “ _Beeest?_ ” she said softly, looking up at him. “That’s it, right?”

Vision looked at her. His eyes reflected in hers hundreds of times, and they looked sad. “Yes, Wanda,” he nodded. “That’s right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awwwww, Vis!! You’re not a beast!!! These poor kids have terrible perceptions of themselves 😞  
> Thanks so much for all the love, guys! I am taking requests if you have them, so leave me a comment and I’ll see what I can do~


	5. Tony Stark Throws a Pool Party and Everyone Objects

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s all in the title, baby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooooooooo! Look at me introducing the Avengers. Ignore that Bruce Banner is here despite him flying off to Sakaar after AoU. I thought we established we were ignoring canon a very long time ago??

The sun was shining brightly, birds were singing sweetly, and Wanda had just found an excellent new book to read. She was so excited; she’d quite literally blocked out a few hours in her journal to fall into a different fantasy land.

Unfortunately, the universe had other plans because, for some god-forsaken reason, Tony Stark decided to throw a pool party, and the only people invited were the Avengers.

And Pepper Potts and Laura Barton, but everyone unanimously agreed they were honorary members of the team.

Wanda dutifully changed into a swimsuit and cover-up skirt and settled down on a beach chair with her novel, attending the party physically but not mentally in any capacity.

Everyone else was getting ready to jump in the pool except for Pepper, Laura, and Vision, standing off to the side awkwardly.

Tony sidled up to Wanda. “Come on, you getting in?”

“Oh no, I don’t swim,” she said, flipping to the next page in her book.

“Party pooper,” Tony grumbled. He threw his sunglasses to the ground haphazardly, and Wanda caught them in a net of energy just before they hit the concrete.

“These things are expensive, you know.” She huffed and laid them gently on his towel, adding, “You should be more careful with them.”

Tony waved her off, climbing up to the diving board. “What are they, like, two—three hundred bucks?”

“ _Maybach Eyewear - The Diplomat I_ sell for $60,000,” Vision said, sitting down next to Wanda. “They are very rare; most of them are bought by collectors.”

“And people who have too much money than they know what to do with,” Wanda griped.

Tony shrugged. “Huh. The more you know, I guess.” He took a step back then ran full-speed off the diving board, shouting, _“_ _Cannonball!_ _”_ on his way down. Water flew across the deck, splashing everyone within reach—including Natasha, who looked like she wanted to torture the billionaire until he begged her to kill him. Wanda threw up a barrier to protect herself and Vision.

The android smiled. “Thank you.”

“Wouldn’t want your bolts to rust,” she teased.

Tony, now fully submerged in the pool, popped up dramatically. “Pep!” he called, swimming over to her. “Didja see that?” Pepper nodded and rolled her eyes. “Hey, Nat,” he continued, “do spiders do well in water? I think I might’ve—“

Before he could finish, Natasha dived into the water with the precision of an Olympic athlete and swam straight for him. Tony tried to paddle away, but it was no use; the Black Widow had him in her web. She tossed one leg over his shoulder and placed her hands on his head, pushing him down into the water. After a few seconds, she let him up, only to shove him down under again. Thor tried to swim over to help, but Clint placed a hand on his arm.

“It’s not worth it,” the archer muttered.

She dunked him a few more times until Steve finally snapped: “Okay, he gets it! Let him up, Nat.” Pepper smiled at him gratefully, albeit with a little disappointment that it hadn’t gone on longer. She loved Tony with her whole heart, but it was nice to see him be put in his place on occasion, especially by another redhead.

Natasha flipped gracefully off his shoulders, and Tony sputtered to the surface. He spit up a mouthful of water, coughing heavily. “What the hell, Nat?!”

“For the record, spiders do  _wonderfully_ in water,” she said, then threw herself into an elegant backstroke.

Tony coughed dramatically. “You coulda killed me!”

“Don’t be dramatic, Tony,” Clint said. “If she wanted to kill you, you’d already be dead.”

Wanda chuckled to herself, and Vision followed suit. She flipped another page in her book, seemingly uninterested in the world around her, but when Steve stood to leave, she looked up.

“Steve? Is something wrong?” she asked.

“No, I’m just...” he glanced at the pool, seeming old and far away for a moment. “I don’t like water, is all.”

Wanda nodded respectfully and let him continue into the compound, though she had an air of concern about her.

“I’m sure Captain Rogers will be alright,” Vision said.

She grinned ruefully at him. “I know. I just hate that he couldn’t be a part of this,” she sighed and looked around the pool yard. Natasha was carrying Clint on her shoulders while Tony held up Bruce, and the four were fighting to knock the other two over while Pepper and Laura sunbathed peacefully in the background. Thor was blowing water out of a pool noodle onto Rhodey, who was shooting Sam with a water gun, who was trying to jump off the diving board. Vision, for some reason, was in a sweater and slacks.

“Whatever  _this_ is,” Wanda added.

“Woah, woah, where’s Cap going?” Tony called.

“Yeah, wait a second,” Clint said. “You can’t just leave, man!”

Natasha closed her eyes briefly in realization. “Shit. Come on, let’s go in, guys.”

“What? Why?” Rhodey asked, pumping the water gun.

“ Oh! Oh, god,” Sam swore and raced inside.

“Is everything alright?” Thor asked bemusedly.

Natasha pushed Clint off her shoulders, ignoring him when he landed with a splash and muffled cry, then turned towards the steps of the pool. “Yeah, don’t worry about it. Steve’s just got a thing about water, that’s all,” she said and hoisted herself onto the concrete.

Tony swore under his breath and followed after Natasha. Pepper and Laura made their way inside while Clint, Rhodey, and Thor grabbed their towels to dry off.

“Anybody know what that was about?” Rhodey asked.

“Yeah,” Clint said, “Steve’s got that, uh, the thing, ya know, where he, uhm—“

“That’s how he died,” Wanda interrupted. “It’s how he was  _supposed_ to die, anyway. He crashed his plane into the ice, remember?”

“Ohhhhh, right,” Rhodey said. “Well, I guess we didn’t exactly think a pool party through, huh?”

“Looks like it,” Clint joked.

“It’s not funny, you know,” Wanda said and slammed her book shut.

Clint raised his eyebrows. “Woah there, sparky, what’s up with the attitude?”

“He’s got trauma. You shouldn’t joke about it behind his back,” she muttered, standing to match Clint’s height. Vision followed suit.

“I’m sorry, alright? I didn’t know it was gonna be that offensive,” Clint said.

Wanda didn’t respond, just grabbed her towel and book and turned to go inside. Thor and Rhodey hesitantly followed her. Vision and Clint stayed behind.

Clint turned to Vision once the others were out of earshot. “Hey, you know anything about that?”

“I’m sorry?”

“What’s up with Wanda, I mean. She got, like, a thing going on that I should know about?”

“I—I don’t believe so, no,” Vision replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Ah, nothing, she just seemed a little more headstrong than usual,” Clint laughed good-naturedly.

“Perhaps I should clarify; why do you ask  _me?_ ”

Clint looked at him strangely. “I dunno, I thought you two were, like...” he trailed off, reaching down for his towel. “Uh, ya know what? Never mind, let’s just go see what the other guys are up to, yeah?”

Vision nodded, and the two returned to the compound.

Inside, Pepper and Laura were sitting at the bar sipping wine. Clint walked over and kissed his wife on the cheek, then headed towards their guest room to change.

“I assume the others are getting changed, as well,” Vision said, to which the two women nodded. “Is Captain Rogers alright?”

“I think he’ll be fine,” Laura said. “Sam and Nat are in there checking on him now.”

Pepper chimed in, “Tony thinks it was a flashback or something. He said it’s probably best if we let him work through it on his own,” she shrugged. “Oh, by the way, Wanda’s in her room.”

Vision tilted his head. “Why would I need to know that, Miss Potts?”

Laura and Pepper shared a conspiratorial glance, and Laura turned back to her wine. “No reason,” Pepper said, then looked away from him before he could question her further.

He wasn’t planning on going to Wanda’s room. Really, he wasn’t, but then the idea was planted in his system, and... well, he found himself knocking at her door feeling as close to embarrassed as an android could be.

“Vis?” Wanda called through the door. “Is that you?”

“Yes, I, uhm... well, the last time we talked, you asked me to knock next time, so. I’m knocking. Should I have done it louder?” he asked, genuinely concerned. He didn’t grasp knocking etiquette; he wasn’t big on doors in general.

“No, you’re fine,” she chuckled through the door. “Give me one second.” Wanda quickly unlocked the door, and Vision stepped inside. “Is something wrong?”

“I was going to ask you—is that my shirt?”

Wanda was wearing a black cashmere sweater which looked ridiculously huge on her small frame, but Vision recognized the shirt nonetheless. He’d worn it just a few days ago, and though he knew the laundry had been done since then—courtesy of Bruce Banner—there was no logical reason it would’ve ended up in her room instead of his.

Unless someone put it there, of course.

“Uhm, yeah, I think it is. Sorry, I didn’t have anything else in my closet. Is it okay? I can take it off if you want; I probably have a tank top somewhere—“

“No, please, don’t change on my account,” he said. “It’s perfectly alright.”

She smiled gratefully at him. “Thank you, Vis.” He nodded, and she quickly brushed past him to leave the room before stopping at the doorway. “Come on. I think we’re gonna play a game. Do you like  _Clue?_ ”

“I’ve never played,” he confessed to her retreating back.

“Aw, it’s so much fun! You’ll love it,” she called over her shoulder.

Vision nodded, more to himself than anything, and leaned against the doorway.

He didn’t consider himself easily frightened. He was a robot; his amygdala was synthetic and shouldn’t have released any involuntary chemicals unless he was actually in danger. But something about Wanda, specifically Wanda  _in his sweater,_ sent a tingle of...  something  he didn’t recognize shooting down his spine. He didn’t understand what it was, and he didn’t like that. Her effect on him was a mystery to his processing unit, something he didn’t think was possible.

“Vis, are you coming?” she yelled.

“On my way,” he replied, though he stopped to take a peek into her closet on his way out. The thing was full of freshly washed clothes. Banner had just done their laundry, after all.

Vision shook his head and decided to confront that question at a later date. It wasn’t worth asking about when everyone was in such high spirits, and he was sure it was an honest mistake that she had been too embarrassed to admit. Besides...

He really didn’t mind seeing Wanda Maximoff in his sweater.

That same tingle ran down his spine, and he quickly rushed to the kitchen, phasing through Clint’s guest room on the way. “Hey, what the hell—!” Vision phased through the opposite wall and appeared near the bar.

“Oh, hey, ya done flipping through Wanda’s diary? I’m sure there’s a lot about you in there, big guy,” Tony said. Pepper slapped him on the arm, quietly telling him to shut up. 

“Are you playing, Vision?” Bruce asked. He, Thor, and Rhodey had gotten changed into more comfortable attire and were sitting around the table while Pepper, Laura, and Tony sat at the bar. Wanda was grabbing a game—he assumed Clue— from the board game cabinet. “We’re still waiting on Clint.”

“And Team Cap,” Tony called across the room. “Speaking of, we’re sure they’re not having a threesome, right? Cuz they sure have been gone a long time—“

“Tony!” Pepper scolded.

“What?! I’m just saying! And with the way they all look at each other, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“What, are you jealous?” Bruce asked, only half-joking.

Tony glared at him. “Oh, hardy har-har, look who’s mister funny guy. I thought you were supposed to be mister angry, or are we all just switching labels now? Because if so, I call Nat’s; being mister killer sexy—literally—would be fun for a change.”

“Jesus, you talk _so_ much, ” Sam groaned. Natasha, Steve, and Clint followed closely behind him.

“It’s part of my charm. Welcome back, Capsicle. Ya feeling alright?”

“Yeah,” Steve sighed, looking embarrassed. “Sorry about that guys, I didn’t mean to ruin the party.”

“Trust me, you didn’t,” Bruce said, throwing a look at Tony, who stuck his tongue out in return.

Wanda scoffed under her breath. “He’s such a child,” she muttered to Vision.

“It is part of his charm,” he whispered back. She snorted.

“Hey, what’re you two lovebirds laughing about?” Tony asked.

“Nothing,” they said in unison.

Rhodey opened up the game. “Are we doing this or not?”

“Uh, hey,” Sam said, sitting across from Thor and picking up the game’s lid. “This thing is only for six players.”

“So?” Tony shrugged.

“ _So,_ ” Natasha said. “There’s twelve of us.”

Tony snapped his fingers wryly. “Welp, looks like six of us are getting voted off the island. Sorry, Vision, you were sweet, but you were never gonna make it.”

Wanda glared at him. “ _Or_ we could play two rounds.”

“Yeah, alright,” Tony acquiesced. “So, who’s picking who?”

After a quick discussion, they decided to pick two team captains and let them choose who would play in their game. Tony and Steve became the captains—no one was surprised—and they flipped a coin to see who would pick first. Steve won.

He turned to face his teammates. “Uh, Natasha.”

“Really? You’re gonna pick the reconnaissance spy to play  Clue  with you? That’s bold,” Tony said, then pointed to Laura. “Come on, Mrs. Barton. We’re gonna have so much fun.”

“I will literally shoot you in the eye,” Clint grumbled.

Laura moved next to him while Nat stood next to Cap. She whispered something in his ear, and he nodded. “Pepper.”

“Hey! How come you get Pep?”

“She’s not a spy,” Steve smirked. Pepper shook her head and joined Cap’s team.

“Fine, I pick... Wanda.” Laura smiled and kissed her on the cheek motherly when she walked over. “If you guys keep doing that, I’m gonna change my team lineup.”

“I don’t think you can do that,” Steve said. “Sam, get over here.”

“Bruce! Come on,” Tony said.

Steve waved Thor over. The god clapped him on the back.

“Let’s go, Rhodes,” Tony called and bumped his shoulder.

“Just for the record, I’m personally offended that you chose Maximoff before me.” Tony chuckled and shook his head.

The only two left were Clint and Vision. Steve and Tony shared a look and nodded slightly.

“Come on, Clint,” Steve said.

“Welp, looks like it’s me and you, kid,” Tony said to Vision as he shuffled over awkwardly, taking his place next to Wanda. “Welcome to Team Superior.”

“Right,” Natasha scoffed. “So, which group’s playing first?”

Cap and Tony flipped another coin which again landed in Steve’s favor. “Are you rigging these things? This has gotta be weighted or something,” Tony griped, examining the coin.

Steve, Natasha, Pepper, Sam, Thor, and Clint all sat around the table while the remaining Avengers watched from the sidelines. Wanda quietly stood next to Vision and whispered something in his ear:

“I have no idea how to play this game,” she confessed.

Vision leaned down to explain the rules to her quietly. “There are three different cards hidden in an envelope: one that represents the murderer, one that represents the murder weapon, and one that represents the location of the murder. The remaining people, weapons, and room cards are distributed to the players—if they don’t distribute evenly, everybody gets to see the leftover cards. Players roll dice to move around the board, and when they reach a room, they guess the murder. The other players then try to prove the guess wrong by passing their cards around to the guesser. Once you think you know all three cards, you make an accusation and check the envelope to see if you are right. At the end,” he finished, “you must be inside of the room you believe the crime took place before you can make an accusation. If your accusation is wrong, you put the cards back in the envelope, and the game continues without you.”

Wanda nodded and turned back to the game. She could just see over Pepper’s shoulder, and she noted how the older woman marked off specific rooms, weapons, and characters based on everyone’s suspicions. After a while, she’d managed to guess the person and the weapon and had narrowed down the rooms to the Kitchen and the Conservatory. She made a gamble, and on her next turn, moved her character—Mrs. Peacock—into the Kitchen.

Another round went by, and just before Pepper’s turn, Clint made a guess in the Conservatory. “I think it’s Miss Scarlet with the lead pipe in the Conservatory.”

“Why’s everyone accusing me?” Sam grumbled as he moved his marker across the board.

Pepper—and consequently Wanda—knew that Miss Scarlet was the murderer and Steve had the lead pipe, but he was sitting right next to Clint, so if someone showed him something before Steve could, it had to be the Conservatory.

“You got anything, Pepper?” Clint asked. She shook her head.

Natasha had nothing.

Sam had nothing.

Thor silently slid a card across the table.

Pepper grinned and marked something on her paper. When the dice were passed to her, she simply set them down and said, “I’d like to make an accusation.”

Everyone at the table groaned.

“How is that even possible?!” Clint yelled. Bruce poured himself a glass of wine and chuckled.

Thor quieted everyone. “Please, Miss Potts, go ahead.”

“Thank you, Thor. I am accusing Miss Scarlet—“

“Oh, come on!” Sam cried.

“—in the Kitchen with the candlestick.”

“You really think my tiny arms could beat a man to death with a candlestick?!”

Natasha shushed everyone and handed Pepper the envelope. She took out the three cards and laid them down one by one:

Miss Scarlet.

The Candlestick.

The Kitchen.

“This is some bullshit,” Clint muttered, causing Bruce to snort into his wine.

“Heyyy, watch it, Katniss. There are kids at the table,” Tony scolded.

“Who here is a kid?” Natasha asked.

Tony pointed to Vision. “He’s only, what, eight months old?”

“Seven months, twenty-three days, fourteen hours, fifty-six minutes, and eleven seconds, actually,” Vision corrected.

Everyone stared at him.

“Twelve seconds,” he added.

“What he said,” Tony mumbled.

“Alright, well, good job, Pepper,” Steve said and patted her on the shoulder. “Guess picking you for our team was a bad idea after all.”

“Yeah, it was,” Tony said and gave Pepper a quick peck on the lips. “She might not be a spy, but she’s got more common sense than all of us combined.”

No one argued with him on that.

Bruce divided all the cards into three stacks and shuffled each pile individually. He fanned the Room stack out to Tony, who plucked one from the middle, then Rhodey chose from the Character stack, and finally, Laura picked the weapon. Bruce slid the three cards into the envelope and sent it off to the side. He shuffled all the cards together and dealt; there were six of them, no cards were left over. They each had three cards in their hands.

Wanda had Mrs. White, the Lounge, and the Ballroom.

They each chose their characters; Wanda became Miss Scarlet, and Vision was Professor Plum.

Laura started the round. After seeing Pepper’s strategy, Wanda placed the first letter of every other player’s name above a column and dedicated that space to figure out what cards they had. She drew a line through the rows of the cards she had in her hand.

A few rounds passed in relative silence beside the guesses thrown around and the occasional grumble from Tony each time he was taken into a new room. Soon enough, Wanda had a vague idea of who the character was—Colonel Mustard—and was pretty sure the Hall was the room. The only thing she didn’t have was the weapon, and she knew it would take too much time to figure it out. Tony had figured out the character and the room, too, and she wouldn’t be surprised if he already knew the weapon. On his turn, he made his way to the Hall, but he fell a few spaces short.

Vision had shown her the rope, and she knew other players at the table held the revolver and the candlestick. That left the dagger, the lead pipe, and the wrench.

So she took a risk.

She was already in the Hall. “I’d like to make an accusation,” she said.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Tony cursed.

“I think,” she started, quickly trying to decide which weapon she would gamble on. “I think it was Colonel Mustard in the Hall... with the dagger.”

Vision coughed into his hand. Bruce handed her the envelope, and she slowly pulled out each card.

Colonel Mustard.

The Hall.

The Wrench.

Wanda sniffed and placed the cards back in the envelope.

“Ha! Yes,” Tony said. Vision quickly took his turn and landed inside the Hall. Tony glared daggers at him. “Don’t. You.  _Dare._ ”

“I’d like to make an accusation.”

“Son-of-a-bitch.”

“What happened to ‘there are kids at the table?’” Laura laughed. Tony just grumbled under his breath.

“I believe it was Colonel Mustard in the Hall with the Wrench,” Vision said and took the envelope from Wanda’s hands.

He laid the three cards on the table, and Tony slammed his hands down.

“That’s what I was gonna say!”

“Guess you didn’t get there fast enough,” Rhodey said.

“Ya know what, screw you too, Rhodes.”

The man just laughed and started to clean up the table. “So what’s everybody feeling? Another game?”

“How about a movie?” Natasha asked. “It’s getting kinda late; I know Pepper has to work in the morning, and we have that thing with Fury.”

“Oh, shit, I forgot about that,” Tony said. “Remind me again why he holds his briefings at ten in the morning?”

“Better early than late in case we’re needed somewhere,” Steve said. “And a movie sounds nice, Nat. What were you thinking?”

“If we’re watching a movie, it better have explosions in it,” Sam muttered.

Wanda tensed. “I’d prefer it if there weren’t.”

The room stilled for a moment, and then Sam slapped the side of his head. “Right. Sorry, Wanda. No explosions, then.”

“Thanks,” she nodded, and Vision gently touched her shoulder. She smiled at him quickly and turned to the others. “We could watch something scary, though, if you’d like. I’m not afraid of a little horror,” she grinned.

“ Ooh!  Let’s watch _The Conjuring!_ ” Tony said and nearly ran to the indoor movie theater—yes, they had one of those, and for the life of her, Wanda could never figure out why they had an  _outdoor_ one, too.

“Look what you’ve done,” Pepper muttered, shaking her head. “He’s wanted to see this movie forever, but I wouldn’t let him.”

“Why not?” Thor asked.

“I don’t like horror movies. I have a thing about ghosts,” she explained as they all made their way to the theater.

Rhodey raised his brows. “Your boyfriend fights aliens and living robots, and you’ve got a thing about  _ghosts?_ ”

“Ghosts and demons, anyway. My mom let me watch  _The Exorcist_ when I was little; bad idea.”

The humans in the group—minus Steve—all nodded in understanding while Thor and Vision looked at each other in confusion. Vision quickly searched the internet for the film. After some quick research, he nodded along, too. Thor and Steve still looked confused.

They all filtered into the theater, taking their seats as Tony pulled up the movie on the giant screen. The theater had three tiered rows; the bottom and middle rows each had two pairs of seats, while the one up top was a couch with a curved back that could fit roughly four people. Tony and Pepper took one of the pairs in the bottom row. Clint and Laura took the pair right behind them, and Rhodey took the chair next to Tony, leaving one open on the bottom row. Bruce and Thor accepted the last remaining pair, and Sam plopped down next to Rhodey. Steve and Natasha sat on the couch, and Wanda went to join them, waving Vision to follow her.

The couch the four of them rather snugly, especially considering that Steve Rogers was much broader than the average man and Vision was made of vibranium. Wanda and Natasha ended up squished together in the middle, and Wanda had the option to curl up against her mother-figure’s side or Vision’s.

Very slowly, Wanda leaned against his arm, and he carefully laid it behind them on the couch. He accidentally brushed Steve’s arm, which led to the awkward interaction that followed:

Steve raised his eyebrows in concern.

Vision quickly shook his head.

Steve noticed Wanda curled against his side.

Vision gave a thin smile.

Steve shot him a wink and thumbs-up behind the couch.

Vision died a little inside.

With that experience now burned into his hard drive, Vision sighed deeply and turned to the screen. Wanda glanced up at him, and he smiled much more warmly at her. She smiled back and shifted slightly as Tony finally started the film.

The movie went by very quickly, and every so often, something would jump out on screen, and everyone in the theater would jump with it. About a quarter of the way through, Tony pulled out a few bags of different flavored popcorn and passed them around; Wanda ended up with the caramel, which she and Natasha split between them. At one point, a particularly tense moment occurred—Vision didn’t quite catch it; he’d never been a fan of films as he felt it disrespectful to watch another piece of technology for so long in such a vulnerable state—and Wanda jumped so violently the popcorn went flying. It rained down onto Clint and Laura, and the archer turned and threw some of it back to her.

“Sorry!” she whispered, laughing quietly. She shook her head at Vision and popped another piece of popcorn into her mouth.

The rest of the film went by in relative peace minus a few more scares, and it was over as quickly as it had begun.

Rhodey was staring slack-jawed at the screen. “You mean to tell me,” he started, turning to Tony. “They went through all that trouble and had to deal with all those ghosts—and  _everyone_ survived— except for the damn dog?!  Why did you make us watch this movie, dude?!”

“Rhodes, I didn’t know—“

“I don’t care! I have that in my head now.”

“Tony, I should be heading home,” Pepper said and stood to get her things together. The two kissed, and she made her way out the door, nodding at the others on her way out.

“That one lady got possessed, and _she_ was fine,” Rhodey continued.

Natasha and Steve stood, leaving Wanda and Vision on the couch. “Rhodey, let it go,” Nat said with a smile.

“Ya know what? Shut up, Natasha, because Sadie didn’t do anything to them, okay? She was a little angel, and that Bathsheba chick or whoever killed her and left all those bitchass kids alive, so I’m pissed.”

Clint patted him on the shoulder as he and Laura stood to leave. “We gotta head home, too. The babysitter’s probably wondering where we are by now.”

“Bye, guys,” Nat said and kissed Laura on the cheek. Clint hugged her, and he and Laura headed out the door.

“I should get going, too,” Bruce said. “It’s kinda a long drive from here to my apartment, so I gotta get to sleep before the briefing tomorrow.”

“Yeah, gotta make sure you don’t get cranky and go green,” Tony teased and punched his arm. Bruce rolled his eyes, said his goodbyes, and headed home.

Thor stood. “He is right. We all should sleep soon if we hope to be of any use tomorrow.”

“Thor’s got a point,” Steve said. “It’s almost eleven.”

“Oh my god, do you guys just kill the fun for... well, fun, I guess,” Tony muttered.

Natasha grinned. “See, even you’re slowing down, Stark.”

He flipped her the bird and walked off to bed. “Oh,” he called behind him. “Don’t worry about picking any of this up. I’ll have the cleaners get it in the morning. Night.”

Rhodey stood soon after him. “I gotta shower before tomorrow,” he said on his way out, then added, “I still can’t believe they killed that dog.”

Sam joined Steve and Natasha at the door as Wanda and Vision stood. “Well, I’m gonna head to bed, too, I guess. I’ll see you guys in the morning.” He walked out, and Thor followed suit, nodding at them as he passed.

“Don’t stay up too late, you two,” Natasha winked, then brushed past Steve and went out the door.

“Ignore her,” Steve said. “But seriously, go to bed soon. We have important work to do tomorrow.” He nodded like a general at war and left them to be alone.

“Well,” Wanda started. “That was fun.”

“I disagree whole-heartedly,” Vision said lightly.

Wanda looked at him. “You... do?”

“Oh, yes,” he nodded. “I find it rather uncomfortable to watch television, knowing that I am no different from it without my sentience. To stare at it so plainly for entertainment, as if it were nothing more than an object... there’s something unbearable pornographic about it, in a way.” Wanda laughed loudly, and if Vision could’ve blushed, he would’ve. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, please,” she giggled. “Don’t apologize. I know what you meant.”

He nodded and turned to the door. “Shall we?”

“Yeah,” she said, accidentally stepping on a popcorn kernel. “God, I made such a mess.”

“It’s alright; Mister Stark said he would have someone clean it.”

“I know, but...” Wanda stepped over the mess and stood next to Vision. She lifted her hands, concentrating hard, and the popcorn slowly glided back into the now empty bag. In a flash of red, the other miscellaneous popcorn bags and trash levitated into a neat pile in the corner. “There. That should make it easier, at least.”

Vision smiled widely at her, and the two made their way to her door. “Well,” he started. “I suppose this is goodbye, then.”

“Oh, don’t say that. You make it sound like we’ll never see each other again,” she laughed. 

“What should I say instead?” he grinned.

Wanda studied him for a moment and raised her chin. “Goodbye until tomorrow.”

He nodded. “Goodbye until tomorrow, Wanda.”

She went to close her door, and Vision had the strange urge to kiss her cheek, but instead, he turned to leave.

“Hey, Vis,” Wanda said quickly. 

He turned back to her. “Yes?”

“Uhm—do you want your shirt back?”

“You can keep it if you like,” he chuckled.

She nodded. “Thanks.” He turned to leave again, and she called his name once more. “Sorry, I just... when you came in here earlier today, you said you wanted to ask me something,” she said softly. “What was it?”

Vision scrubbed through his memory. “I was seeing if you were alright. Are you? Alright, that is.”

Wanda grinned. “Actually, I, uh... I wasn’t then. I’m alright now, though.”

“Would you... like to talk about it?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “Please.”

Vision shuffled back to her, stopping just outside her doorway. She ushered him in, and he gently sat on the bed. “So,” he started awkwardly as she sat next to him. “What happened?”

“I’m afraid of water,” she blurted. “Well, not water in general, but the sea specifically. And I can’t swim; I can’t even float. I want to learn, but my parents died before they could ever teach me.”

Vision nodded slowly. “Is that why you didn’t appreciate Clint’s comments against Captain Rogers?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“I understand. Is there... anything else?”

Wanda sighed, her face turning pink. “Vis, could you—do you think you could, uhm, teach me? To swim, I mean. I would ask Natasha, but, well, she’s a little...”

“Violent in her teaching style?”

“Yeah,” she chuckled. “So... could you? I mean, physically, would you even be able to?”

“Yes. My bolts can’t  _actually_ rust,” he smiled.

She snorted. “Right. Do you even know how to swim?”

“Not technically, but I don’t have to learn things in the way that you do. If you wanted me to, I could download the information now and be able to help you.”

“Would you?”

Vision nodded. “When do you want to learn?”

She looked sheepishly at him.

~

Vision had silently switched to his traditional clothes—cape not included—to better function in the pool while Wanda had changed into her swimsuit. They snuck out to the pool and turned on the underwater lights, hoping they wouldn’t wake anyone. 

After a moment, Wanda slowly dipped her feet in the water. “Vis—“ she started shakily, and he quickly appeared at her side. She grabbed onto his elbow and stepped down a little further.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” she said tightly. She forced her feet down the remaining steps until she was waist-deep in water. “What do we do now?” She gripped his arm tighter.

“What would you like to do?”

“You tell me,” she muttered.

Vision nodded. “The first thing most parents teach their children is how to float.”

“Let’s do that.” She turned to her back was facing the deep end, and closed her eyes tightly.

“I’m going to tilt you back until you’re parallel to the water. It may feel like you are falling, but I will be holding you the entire time,” he explained. “If you want to come back up, you need only ask. Are you ready?”

She nodded, her eyes flying open. “You’re not gonna let me fall, right?” Her grip on his arm was almost painful. A message flashed across his eyes telling him to shut off his pain receptors there, but he pushed it away.

“Never,” he promised. “Besides, we’re only in four feet of water, so even if you did fall, you’d be perfectly safe.”

Wanda glowered at him. “Well, thanks for that. You really are the poster child for  _security,_ huh,” she grumbled.

“Thank you.”

“Vis, I didn’t—you know what,” Wanda giggled reluctantly, “you’re welcome.”

Vision smiled and placed his hand at the base of her skull, cradling her head; his other hand was ready to keep her steady when she leaned back. “Are you ready?”

Wanda hesitated a little, then nodded quickly. “Let’s get this over with.”

She kept her grip on his arm tight as Vision gently guided her down into the water. His hand stayed securely on her neck while the other found her lower back. He could feel her muscles tense as her legs floated to the surface, and she scrunched her face like she was in pain. 

“Are you alright?”

“Fine,” she muttered through gritted teeth. “Are we almost done?”

“If you’d like us to be,” he said softly. She peered up at him, her eyes still half-closed, and sighed.

“No, I want to be able to do this. Just... give me a minute, please.”

“Of course.”

Vision kept his arms steady against her body, slowly moving his hand from her neck to just above her shoulder blades so she could move her head. She kept her face pinched, but he could hear her heartbeat begin to slow. 

“Wanda,” he began gently, “it may help you feel in control to put your arms at your sides. That way, you can balance on the water without my help.”

She huffed lightly and opened her eyes, her face relaxing. “What, you mean you’re not always gonna help me do stuff everyone else can do on their own?”

“I will always help you when you require it, but the goal is for you to no longer need me, correct?”

Wanda studied him, and Vision could feel his systems stutter. He told himself it was just the water, but something in her eyes pierced him to his soul—if he even had one. Wanda smirked slyly.

“What if I like needing you?” she whispered.

Vision would’ve dropped her if not for the sudden realization that he couldn’t seem to move.

“Well,” he choked out, “then, I suppose, I will always be at the ready should you... still, uhm, like needing me in future.”

Wanda laughed, and the shaking of her body caused him to lose his grip on her neck. She threw her arms out to her sides in a panic, thrashing violently against the water. Vision caught her before she dipped under the surface.

“It’s alright!” He knelt so his knees hit the pool bottom and he could carry her properly. One of her arms flew around his neck, the other still half-paddling against the water. “Look, you almost did it on your own for a moment,” he said lightly.

“Yeah, because you nearly  _killed_ me,” she cried. “What the hell, Vis?”

He smirked. “Don’t be dramatic, Wanda. If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve done it already.”

Wanda rolled her eyes with a chuckle. “Ya know, I really think Nat wanted to kill him. He should be grateful she didn’t.”

“Oh, Stark is never grateful for anything; it’s _part of his charm,_ ” Vision smiled.

“Don’t be mean, Vis,” Wanda said, hitting him on the chest. “He’s _silently_ grateful for lots of things. He just doesn’t tell anyone about them.”

“And how do you know that?” 

“I’ve been inside his head,” she grinned.

“Oh?” Vision hummed, slowly letting the water take on more of her weight as the arm on his neck relaxed. “What did you see?”

Wanda paused and considered the question. “I saw his fears. He is... terrified of things I don’t understand.”

“Like what?”

“His friends dead, for one, which I do understand. But there was something else—a being I couldn’t see. Whoever it was, it horrified him.”

Vision nodded, brushing a strand of hair from her eyes. “Did you see anything else?”

“I wasn’t looking for anything else,” she admitted softly.

“What about when you looked in mine?”

She looked thoughtful for a moment. “I didn’t lie; I saw annihilation... but it wasn’t your fault.”

He tilted his head. “If not mine, whose fault was it?”

“I... I don’t know. Your mind... it was like it wasn’t showing me  _you._ I saw Ultron’s thoughts mixed with another’s—JARVIS, I think. They were two very different forces, anyway. And then...” she trailed off, lost in thought. Vision kept his hands firmly placed on her back, still holding her steady. 

“And then?”

“There was this light... and it called out to me. It felt familiar—like I’d seen it before. I think... I think I have. It was this,” she lifted one hand, a small sliver of her power shining in the moonlight. “I knew it’s energy. That stone in your head gave me these powers, you know.”

“I know,” he whispered.

“It’s dangerous, Vision. Whatever it is, wherever it came from, it was never meant to end up here. That thing has caused more trouble than it’s worth. If it hadn’t shown up here... so many people would still be alive. My brother—“ she cut herself off, clenching her fist and letting the magic fade. “It comes from somewhere in the stars. It should’ve stayed there,” she grimaced.

Vision looked down at her and saw the beginnings of a tear forming in her eye. He took her hand gently, squeezing it when the tear finally fell. “Did you know,” he started, looking to the sky, “that the elements found throughout your body can only be found in the heart of a dying star?”

She sniffled and turned her head to him. “What?”

“Nitrogen, calcium, iron—they all are born inside supernovae. The death of stars gives rise to life.”

“I don’t understand,” she murmured. “What does this have to do with me?”

“You fear the water because you cannot control it, but your body  _ is _ water, and thus you have no reason to be afraid... because it’s just  _ you. _ You are made of stardust and seawater and magic from far-off places you may never see yourself, but  _ part  _ of you has, and no matter how much you fear it, it will always be a part of you. I don’t know why I have this stone now, Wanda, but I do know this,” he paused, rubbing slow circles on her thumb. “I know how dangerous its powers may be, but I also know how dangerous  you could be if given the opportunity. But you’re not... Wanda, every day you  _ choose _ to be kind despite what you’ve been through. This stone—your powers—makes you afraid because you can’t reason with them; they simply exist, and they cannot be changed. And yes, this stone has caused pain and suffering, and we cannot reason with it, but so has the sea, and so have you and I, and we fear the parts of ourselves we don’t understand. But really... well, Wanda, you are the universe itself; galaxies live and thrive in your veins; the ocean flows through your skin; magic burns in your lungs. You have nothing to fear from these things because you  _ are  _ these things, and if you can choose to be kind, so can they.”

Wanda looked up at him, another tear slowly falling down her cheek. He quietly wiped it away, and she sighed.

“Vis, I think... I think I’m ready for you to let me go.”

“Alright,” he nodded.

Slowly, he let his hands drift away from her, and though she tensed for a moment, soon, she was floating serenely in the pool. Wanda closed her eyes, and Vision smiled, letting himself fall into the water to float next to her. She gently took his hand.

“Do you think we’ll ever understand the things that scare us, Vis?”

“I think if we did, they wouldn’t scare us anymore. I don’t know if that will ever happen.”

She nodded. “Do you think... it could get easier with time?”

He looked over at her, noticing her eyes glittering in the moonlight, and grinned. He didn’t understand her effect on him a bit, he thought, but still...

“Yes, Wanda. I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I am making “goodbye until tomorrow” a thing and you can’t stop me  
> On a more serious note, thank you guys for all of the comments and kudos, they really make my day.  
> I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be going back to school on Monday and currently I’m playing Katherine in our production of Newsies (I know look at me go, multi-talented) so after this week I’ll be starting weekly updates. Don’t worry tho, bc I have a lot of ideas that I don’t plan on abandoning any time soon!!  
> In the meantime, what do YOU guys wanna see? I promise I’ll be getting into more AU-ish things soon, I’m just a sucker for long-distance mutual pining and that works best with (mostly) canon-compliant Wanda and Vision.


End file.
